


Here At The End Of All Things

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Background Character Death, Background Jane/Thor, Background Natasha/Clint, Background Steve/Tony, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-03
Updated: 2012-11-03
Packaged: 2017-11-17 16:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/553491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe ends, yet Thor and Loki still live.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here At The End Of All Things

Thor finds him in Jotunheim.

It is not the last place he would have looked, but it is unexpected. Loki had never been particularly fond of the land of his birth, although Thor supposes it is the only remaining world Loki would feel any connection to. Earth is long gone; Asgard more recently obliterated. Most realms in between are filled with monstrous beings and ancient, evil magics that pose a threat even to his brother. Ironically, it is Jotunheim that has become one of the safer worlds - it was the first to be wiped of all life, and thus held no value to the dark forces which had ravaged their universe. It was kept safe from invasion and destruction, preserved in ice while the other worlds burned.

Thor travels for a long time to find him, through miles of snow and Jotun ruins. He is not bothered by it - immortal as he is now, he has no need of food or rest, and there is nothing left for him to do but search for his brother. Indeed, it is only the thought of finding Loki that keeps Thor going. Without that single purpose to live, it is likely he will lose all sanity.

Thor does not keep count of the days or weeks that pass. There is no sign of time passing in the frozen land, no sun that would separate the night with day. The journey blurs in Thor’s mind, the landscape endless snow. All he knows is that at some point, he feels the presence of his brother. The familiar aura of magic sings to his heart in a way that nothing else does. It had been millennia since Loki had not bothered to mask his power, since perhaps Loki had first betrayed Asgard.

Following the beacon of magical energy, Thor finally finds Loki. He is sitting on a rocky outcrop, flirting with the edge of a steep drop. As Thor approaches, he sees they are at what appears to be the end of Jotunheim. There is nothing beneath or beyond but space and stars.

“You took longer than I expected,” Loki says, as Thor sits beside him. They do not look at each other, instead staring out into the darkness. Thor wishes to look, to hug his brother, but it has been too long to know whether or not he would be welcome.

“I did not think to check this realm,” Thor admits. “I had almost forgotten that it still stood.”

“I tried to destroy it once. I suppose I should be thankful you stopped me,” Loki muses.

“You have tried to do many foolish things, Loki,” Thor replies sombrely. “And I did not stop you often enough.”

“Mmm,” Loki hums in a non-committal tone. “But none of that matters now, does it, Odinson?”

Thor finally faces his brother, and sees a kind of hopelessness painted across his expression. He pities Loki, then, for living a life so unfulfilling compared to his own.

“It mattered then - it matters still. Even if all people were to die someday, I am glad I could extend their lives and happiness where I could. I have never understood the pleasure you gain from malice, Loki.”

Loki blinks, and takes a handful of snow into his hand, letting the skin of his fingers shimmer blue. “That is because the sun is the brightest star, and so has no need of envy, no need of misery. And without misery, has no need of sharing pain.”

There is a pause, and Thor sighs. “I never thought of you as less than my equal, Loki.”

“Thought doesn’t change fact, Thor.” Loki laughs humourlessly. “Even as a villain of the story, even with all my power, I was still always a _shadow_ compared to you. No-” he says, as Thor tries to interrupt, “Do not deny it. I have made my peace with it. And our story is done, is it not? I think now that I could not change the role assigned to me, even if I possessed all the magic of the nine realms.”

“You were far more to me than a shadow, Loki. Look at me-” Thor reaches out, and turns his brother’s head to face his own. “You are my other half. My brother, now and always, no matter what you may think.”

Loki meets his eyes with a cold distance, and sneers. “So important that you wait until every other is dead before you seek me out. Tell me, Thor, were you surprised to find me alive?”

“The brother I know is far too wily to be tamed by death,” Thor says, old fraternal teasing sneaking into his tone before turning serious. “I would know if you were dead, and I knew you were not.”

“But I was right, was I not? That all else are dead. I have scryed from this place, and seen the last fade into darkness. Humans, dwarves, elves – they fell, and fell, and there came a day when I could scry no person save yourself, and I knew. We were the last ones left. Unless – unless some hide from my magic, but-”

“We are alone, Loki.” Thor says, eyes fixed upon the distant stars. “I have searched through all the realms, and found naught. I would hope that some survivors remain, but there is a heavy certainty in my heart that all are dead.”

“Some _things_ remain,” Loki says quietly. “I hear them. Howling, screaming things. I cannot stop hearing them. There is nothing else to hear, so their wretched cries can be heard even in other realms. As though Yggdrasil’s hollow corpse carries the sound.”

Thor clasps his brother’s shoulder tightly. “Those things that remain are not…” Thor struggles to find the right word. “Human. As we are.”

“Human, Thor, really?” Loki smirks, but Thor notices the action no longer brightens his eyes. They are dull, lifeless, purged of that quicksilver scheming that had always identified Loki, no matter what form he took.

“Do you still hold such petty claims to divinity?” Thor sighs. “I have long since realised how close the races run, in spirit if not in appearance or power. These – beasts, I have seen, they are beyond reason or feeling. They are savage things, Loki. Perhaps one day some will evolve into a better race, but I – I cannot see it. I want to see a future, but there is _nothing_. There is nothing remaining at all.”

Thor bows his head in grief, and Loki leans into his shoulder. In days past, Thor might have welcomed this simple sign of love from his brother. Today, it leaves him feeling more hollow than ever. This too, is a sign of all they have lost – Loki, devoid even of his primal fire, his desire to fight and scorn his brother. Loki is defeated. They have, both of them, been stripped to the core.

“I have always loved you,” Thor says, simply. Loki snorts softly, but does not reply in kind. That is fine; Thor did not expect him to.

“I would like it,” Thor begins, “if we were together at the end. A kind of symmetry, in that, do you not think? You always spoke of such things. How the universe always would balance, eventually.”

“How you are always a sentimental fool,” Loki whispers, and Thor smiles, remembering the times through their history when Loki had oft said such things to him. For all that Loki calls him a fool, he knows he does not mistake the glimmer of some deep well of emotion in Loki’s voice.

They watch the stars. Thor has no silver tongue as Loki does, but in these moments he feels as though he can see every part of history weighed in equal measure, every memory he has of Earth and Asgard and every adventure in between, all shining with a common thread of love. Every person he had met, every place he had visited – they were all destroyed, gone forever from this universe. Yet Thor feels strangely peaceful. Nothing will come of anger or sorrow. He is grateful, in the end, that he had been a part of that miraculous time.

He remembers-

_Himself, as young boy, impatient to see his new younger brother. Soon fighting with him in the palace courtyard. Thor had been the warrior hero; Loki had been the designated villain, the evil Frost Giant. Later, watching his brother grow more distant, more shuttered, but still faintly smiling now and again when Thor did something particularly stupid. Thor, resolving to be more reckless, so that he could see that half-exasperated, half-fond smile._

_The Warriors Three, laughing and drinking in the hall. Thor in the middle of them, glancing up to see his mother and Sif watching him from behind a golden pillar. The bright colours of Asgard, and the joyous faces of his people._

_Jane, his love. Smiling bashfully down when Thor first spoke to her, then later claiming his kisses, their love, proudly and without hesitation. Beautiful in both her vulnerable mortality, and in her fierce passion. The sound of Darcy’s voice, and of Jane’s laughter. The lights of Earth’s cities._

_Fighting with a twisted version of his brother, being tricked by Loki’s magic and deceived by his lies. Saving Earth and the people he loved from Loki’s foolishness, countless times, but never, never giving up that someday he might return to Thor._

_The Avengers. The love of his team, growing and blossoming into a family, blood brothers. The hidden strength of Bruce Banner, and the hidden softness of his Hulk. The sarcastic humour of Iron Man and Hawkeye. The grace of Black Widow, and the nobility of Captain America. An echo of Fury’s annoyed voice, and of the collective voices of Thor’s friends arguing over which film to play on movie night._

_Thor remembers too, the quiet love between Hawkeye and Black Widow that grew in dark corners and soft words exchanged between bowed heads. The clashing of Captain America and Iron Man, with words and fists and later with desperate kisses and rushed promises._

_His father’s wise eyes, and soft smile. His mother’s singing._

_His mother’s dying breath. His father’s bloodied corpse._

_Jane, in her old age, yet to Thor seeming exactly the same as she had been in her youth. Dying peacefully on a white bed, in a white room, even Thor unable to save her from the inevitable._

_The red Iron Man armour, wrecked and broken into mangled pieces. A funeral in the rain, held for the archer and the assassin. The agonised scream of the green beast. The empty eyes of Steve Rogers, and the blue flowers Thor had lain over his grave._

_The sight of Earth, engulfed in fire. The sight of Asgard, falling, disintegrating into dust._

_The golden shine of Heimdall’s armour, and the endless love in his eyes. Thor knew, suddenly, how Heimdall felt – to have seen all, both good and evil, and to know the wonders of the cosmos. He remembered standing on the edge of Asgard as a young boy, looking into the endless expanse of space, and thinking how insignificant his existence was to those stars shining far away. Yet being glad that he could live to see the beauty of the constellations._

“Will we die, eventually?” Loki asks, breaking the silence. “Whatever made us immortal has done too good a job; even when I tried to kill myself, my body healed. I threw myself at one of those beasts, and got only the pain but not reality of death. I had begun to think I had already reached Niffleheim and all of this was part of my everlasting torture. But I – I knew I could not be dead when my sense of you had not wavered. You were still on the same plane as I. And you could not be in Hel, for even the stupidest of mortals would have known Thor Odinson to be destined for Valhalla.”

“I would not leave you, Loki.” Thor closes his eyes, and brings his hand to Loki’s hair, stroking through it as his mother once did for them as children. “If you were in Hel, I would journey there and bring you to Valhalla.”

“You would,” Loki agrees. “And that is why you are a sentimental fool, Thor.”

Thor smiles, a sense of peace washing over him. He has no idea what they will do tomorrow, where they will go or for what purpose. Perhaps finding Valhalla shall be their goal. It does not matter. For now, Thor is content to watch the stars, and remember.


End file.
